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Opposition favored in legislative voting

March 31, 2003|By Items compiled from Tribune news services.

ZIMBABWE — Zimbabweans voted this weekend to elect representatives to Parliament in an atmosphere thick with political tensions between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders who have called for his ouster.

The voting began Saturday and ended Sunday night in two heavily populated suburbs of Harare that have been controlled by the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. Officials estimated that more than one-third of the 88,000 registered voters in the suburbs cast ballots.

Results were to be announced Monday. Odds appeared to favor the opposition, which controls all 19 parliamentary seats from Harare, the capital.